While I see ppc prices go up every month some sites are charging an absurd price for there banner space. I don't think I would call it a bubble but it is getting old.
The ad boom is fueling extremely high levels of investment in the technology sector. That means more companies started, more people working and ultimately, more wealth created.
It also gives companies time to work out all of the missteps they take along the way. Consider everyones golden boys, Google. When a rational and dispassionate analysis is applied to the company, there is cause for some concern. They seem challenged to find a revenue generator other than key word advertising via adSense and adWords. Many things have been out of place with their China strategy. It seems their mobile plans are running into issues with the carriers. Add to all of this a palpable arrogance, and I think it starts to sound like a movie we have all seen before. However, since they are flush with IRRATIONAL internet ad cash, they have time to adjust some things.
Starting with their God awful name. Google, sounds great in the West. In Chinese . . . well . . . you want to find a new name for it, lets just put it that way. They used Google though, since "it's an internationally recognized brand." What was I saying about palpable arrogance? They handle Chinese name separation in a fashion that only makes sense to Western Web 2.0 technologists. I could go on and on. The long and the short of it is that Baidu is winning. Enter the internet advertising cash, and Google is able to correct. Whether they will depends entirely on them. My point is . . .
Thank The Maker for internet ad booms!
They have time to come up with a new revenue generator. Maybe they can get into selling some kind of personal internet agent access. Maybe they can charge developers a fee for using their APIs. Who knows . . . the point is because of the bubble, there is time.
They have time to do something about their mobile strategy other than whine "waaahhh . . . but the carriers control everything and they want us to pay to access their wireless networks." Umm . . . yeah . . . the carriers gave the American people billions of dollars for the licenses to those airwaves. That is how it SHOULD work. Big corporations give us money for OUR resources, and we let them use OUR resources. If you want a license we would have given one to you too. But guess what . . . WE WOULD HAVE CHARGED YOU BILLIONS OF DOLLARS! The only thing troubling is that we charged the carriers so little. My taxes could have gone down even more if we had played our cards right.
Now again, the internet ad boom gives Google the chance to work this out.
And not only Google, but lots of companies now have some breathing room. That is a good thing. Will all of these companies survive and thrive. It's anyone's guess, but because of that money many have a fighting chance.
